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The Liverpool – Manchester United rivalry is one which needs no introduction as it is one of the most widely followed football games in the world. The two teams dominated English football in two separate eras and are now in a rebuilding phase after a few difficult seasons. Despite this, the rivalry between the two sides has always been regarded by many as the most intense one in England.The teams are coming into the game on equal terms after two wins, a draw and a defeat in that order and so far there isn’t any way to separate the teams because of their lackluster performances. But this is the perfect game for both teams to put their season into gear and move forward.In the build up for the game, here are five facts you probably didn’t know about the Liverpool-Manchester United rivalry.
#1 The tale of two cities
The rivalry between the two of England’s most successful clubs is well known and documented from a footballing perspective, but the origin of the animosity was outside in the real world.
The rivalry was one which existed during the industrial times as both cities (Liverpool and Manchester) were competing with each other for the supremacy of the North West. Manchester was famous for its manufacturing power while Liverpool was famous for its port.
The rivalry intensified after the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal as this enabled merchants to bypass the Liverpool port and transport goods directly into Manchester. This led to job losses at the Merseyside port due to the dip in dues for Liverpool merchants and created unrest among the citizens.
Other than this, both cities were famous for producing some of England’s finest artists - for example the Beatles from Liverpool and the Stone Roses from Manchester. This has often led to disputes over which city is the musical capital of the North.
Although there are other football clubs from both cities, the success of both Liverpool and Manchester United, coupled with the non-footballing aspects intensified the rivalry over the years.
#2 No direct transfers for 51 years
In recent years we have seen the direct transfer of players between the biggest rival clubs in some of Europe’s top leagues. We’ve seen players move from one Milan club to another, we’ve seen players represent both Real Madrid and Barcelona, but it has been 51 years and counting, since the last time a player moved directly between Liverpool and Manchester United. It simply does not happen!
The last player to make a direct transfer was Phil Chisnall in 1964 when he moved from Manchester United to Liverpool. However there are players who played for both sides in recent years, but only after representing another club in between. Examples of such cases include Paul Ince, Peter Beardsley and most recently Michael Owen.
In 2007, there was a bid from Liverpool to sign Gabriel Heinze from United, but United refused to allow the player to join their biggest rivals. United announced that Heinze would only be allowed to join a foreign club if he wished to leave and the player went public with his desire to play for Liverpool. This didn’t go down well with the fans of Manchester United and the player was eventually sold to Real Madrid.
#3 Number of trophies
A very common debate that arises between the two sets of fans is about which clubs is more successful overall. Clearly Manchester United have more league titles, while Liverpool have more European cups, but there is a persistent confusion over the overall titles won. This controversy arises due to the confusion regarding which trophies should be counted.
According to the FIFA website, trophies that are won for winning the league, FA Cup, League Cup, Champions League, Europa League, Intercontinental Cup, European Cup Winners’ Cup, UEFA Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup and Intercontinental Cup are taken into account. This means that Liverpool have 44 titles to their names while Manchester United are behind them with 42. UEFA also use similar guidelines but excluded the FIFA Club World Cup. In this scenario, Liverpool’s tally remain unaltered at 44, while United’s go down to 41.
The official Manchester United website have listed 40 domestic and European trophies after excluding the Intercontinental Cup as it was a predecessor to the FIFA Club World Cup. The official Liverpool website has given the count as 41 after eliminating the Super Cup. However, if you take a total of all the above-mentioned trophies along with the Community Shields won, United have 62 trophies while Liverpool have 59.
Since there is no definitive measure, both clubs can proudly claim to be the most successful English club.
#4 Never faced each other in Europe
Liverpool and Manchester United rivalry is one with deep roots and that’s why these teams have played each other 192 times in competitive games, but incredibly all these games were domestic fixtures matches.
This is quite remarkable considering the fact that these two clubs were regulars in the Champions League up until 2010 at least.
Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal were the regular entries in European competition. During the Champions League era alone, Liverpool was drawn against Arsenal in the quarter finals in 2008 and against Chelsea in three semifinal rounds, one quarter finals and once in the group stages (10 matches overall). United on the other hand, played Arsenal in the semi-finals back in 2009, and Chelsea in the finals in 2008 and quarter finals in 2011.
Despite being the two best English clubs in the competition it’s shocking that they never played each in the Champions League or any non-domestic competition as a matter of fact.
#5 No local talent on either side
Manchester United and Liverpool are set to play on Sunday without any local born players for either side. This comes after the departure of Steven Gerrard to LA Galaxy in the summer.
Liverpool have two Scousers in their team in Jon Flanagan and Jordan Rossiter, however, the former is not fit and the latter is unlikely to feature in such a big game.
The scenario is a stark contrast to the one in Gerrard’s first game against United back in September 1999. On that occasion there were eight local players all together. Gerrard, Carragher, David Thompson and Fowler appeared for Liverpool, and Phil Neville, Nicky Butt, Ronnie Wallwork and Paul Scholes featured for United.
If Rooney were play, there will be a scouser on the pitch, although he would have been in United colours.
